Report ‘phone hack’ to police or I will do it for you, Labour chair tells Farage | Nigel Farage
Labor leader Nigel Farage has been given 24 hours to notify security services about claims that his phone has been hacked by Russian-linked actors or that the party will do so on his behalf.
In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was in the “public interest and national interest” to ensure a proper investigation into the suspected hacking of a senior politician’s phone abroad by a hostile state.
A Reform spokesman said the incident had been reported to the “relevant authorities” but did not say who they were.
Skepticism remained over Farage’s claim in a Sunday newspaper that “foreign state actors”, possibly serving Moscow, had accessed his phone and leaked information about the £5 million gift he received from Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne.
In his letter, Turley asked Farage, who has largely avoided media scrutiny in recent weeks, to explain why Harborne gave him the money ahead of the 2024 general election. Farage initially said the sum would be paid for his own security but later described it as a reward for his Brexit campaign.
Accordingly an account After the Guardian revealed details of the undisclosed £5m gift, information given to the Mail on Sunday via “Reform sources”, Farage became suspicious of how the information had come to light and handed over his phone for “forensic analysis by counter-espionage experts”.
This led to the conclusion that a malware attack on the phone, most likely originating from Russia, had compromised his phone, email and bank accounts.
“This constitutes serious cybercrime and a potential hostile state operation against the leader of a British political party,” Turley wrote to Farage.
He continued: “Apart from the consequences for you personally, the alleged offense is an incredibly serious offense with wider potential implications for Britain’s national security, the integrity of our politics and the public’s confidence in our democratic system.
“Therefore, it is crucial that any evidence of hostile state hacking or foreign interference is placed in the hands of the relevant authorities so that it can be fully and independently investigated.
“With this in mind, can you please confirm immediately whether you have reported the alleged hacking of your phone, email and bank accounts to the police and/or relevant security services, including the National Cyber Security Centre?”
The letter stated: “If we do not receive confirmation within 24 hours that this matter has been reported to the police, Labor will, in the public and national interests, report the matter itself to the police and relevant national security authorities, based on your public statements and published reports.”
On Monday, Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, described Farage’s version of the incident as a “completely unsubstantiated and unsubstantiated claim”, saying it would be difficult to conclude Russia was involved based on an examination of a phone.
Martin said that given the seriousness of the matter, Farage should have formally reported what had happened to the authorities.
Farage received the money from Harborne before announcing that he would run in the 2024 elections in which he is not an MP. He therefore argued that this was a personal matter and did not need to be declared.
Parliamentary rules say potentially relevant interests must be declared from 12 months before a person becomes an MP. Parliament’s standards commissioner has launched an investigation into whether Farage breached any rules by not declaring them.
A Reform England spokesman said: “It has been reported to the relevant authorities. It would be inappropriate to comment further while investigations are ongoing.”
